Queen to attend Jubilee party in grounds of Stormont - BBC News
27 June 2012 Last updated at 09:47 ETContinue reading the main story
The Queen is due to attend a huge party at Stormont in honour of her Diamond Jubilee.
About 20,000 have gathered in the grounds of Northern Ireland's seat of government to celebrate the Queen's 60-year reign.
The event is taking place on the second day of the Queen's Jubilee tour in Northern Ireland.
Earlier, the monarch and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness shook hands for the first time.
It happened at an event organised by a charity, Co-Operation Ireland, which works to bring communities together.
The Queen and Mr McGuinness, who is now Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, shook hands at a private meeting and later in public.
The private meeting, in a room at the theatre, involved a group of seven people, including Irish President Michael D Higgins and Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson.
It is understood Mr McGuinness welcomed both the Queen and the Irish president in Irish.
The deputy first minister is said to have commented on the Queen's visit to Dublin last year, and in particular her comments regarding all the victims of the Troubles.
Later, as the Queen left to continue her Diamond Jubilee tour of Northern Ireland, the pair shook hands again, this time in public.
As they shook hands for a second time, Mr McGuinness wished the Queen well in Irish, which translates: "Goodbye and God bless."
The main event had been billed as one to celebrate the role of the arts in contributing to reconciliation and peace-building and not as part of the Jubilee celebrations.
During the event, the Queen was presented with a gift of Belleek pottery to mark her Diamond Jubilee.
- There is live coverage of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee visit at 14:45 BST on BBC Two NI with live streaming online on the BBC Northern Ireland news website.
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